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Can art help an autistic person express his interior world? Can it become a tool to change a complicated existential situation into something positive? And when this happens, what form does it take? A…
Warning
Can art help an autistic person express his interior world? Can it become a tool to change a complicated existential situation into something positive? And when this happens, what form does it take? And most important of all: is it possible to capture the impenetrable soul of a young man like Filippo? The documentary "The Thousand Gates of Filippo" recounts the daily life of an autistic artist, Filippo Zoi: his passion for drawing, his activity as an illustrator for a series of books written by his father, his violent and mysterious crises, his relationships with family and friends. Another element, though, surfaces from this story: Filippo's strong interest for doors and gates, a passion so powerful that seems to drain all of his inner strengths. During what appear to be very personal liturgies, he feels the need to enumerate out loud to his parents all of the doors and gates he " has seen, photographed and even touched" since he was a child to the present day. As the documentary unravels, it takes place on more narrative levels: we switch from Filippo's intense daily activities, all of which are rigorously scanned by a schedule prepared every day by his parents, to the hours dedicated to drawing, focusing in particular on the time spent creating a fantasy world populated by witches. Piece after piece, Filippo's complex universe comes together, both a mosaic and a labyrinth: his mind seems capable of absorbing every external stimulus, to change it into something new, original. Slowly but surely, the young man's personality takes shape on the screen, as an unanswered question materializes in the minds of those who know of similar cases: what will it be of this young man when his parents won't be around? What role will his sister play in the future, hopefully a very distant one? The documentary "The thousand gates of Filippo" tries to paint a faithful picture of the complex personality of both the protagonist and the community surrounding him, a community which over the years has built a virtuous and inclusive relationship with him and his family. Our world is also Filippo's world, everything concurs into forming a mirror, into which his ever greater and impenetrable soul can look at its reflection.
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Can art help an autistic person express his interior world? Can it become a tool to change a complicated existential situation into something positive? And when this happens, what form does it take? And most important of all: is it possible to capture the impenetrable soul of a young man like Filippo? The documentary "The Thousand Gates of Filippo" recounts the daily life of an autistic artist, Filippo Zoi: his passion for drawing, his activity as an illustrator for a series of books written by his father, his violent and mysterious crises, his relationships with family and friends. Another element, though, surfaces from this story: Filippo's strong interest for doors and gates, a passion so powerful that seems to drain all of his inner strengths. During what appear to be very personal liturgies, he feels the need to enumerate out loud to his parents all of the doors and gates he " has seen, photographed and even touched" since he was a child to the present day.
As the documentary unravels, it takes place on more narrative levels: we switch from Filippo's intense daily activities, all of which are rigorously scanned by a schedule prepared every day by his parents, to the hours dedicated to drawing, focusing in particular on the time spent creating a fantasy world populated by witches. Piece after piece, Filippo's complex universe comes together, both a mosaic and a labyrinth: his mind seems capable of absorbing every external stimulus, to change it into something new, original. Slowly but surely, the young man's personality takes shape on the screen, as an unanswered question materializes in the minds of those who know of similar cases: what will it be of this young man when his parents won't be around? What role will his sister play in the future, hopefully a very distant one? The documentary "The thousand gates of Filippo" tries to paint a faithful picture of the complex personality of both the protagonist and the community surrounding him, a community which over the years has built a virtuous and inclusive relationship with him and his family.
Our world is also Filippo's world, everything concurs into forming a mirror, into which his ever greater and impenetrable soul can look at its reflection..